elliot



IMPROVED BEDSTEAD FASTENIN G.

WILLIAM H, ELLIOT, OF NEW YORK.

Letters Patent No. 59,825, dated November 20, 1866.

SPECIFIGATrON.

TO ALLiWHOM IT MAY CONOERN:

Be. it known that I, WM. H. ELLIOT, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and improved Bedstead Fastening, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and tothe letters of reference marked thereon. Similar letters of reference indica-te the same devices in all the figures.

To enable others skilledin the arts to comprehend, make, and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its nature, construction, and operation. l I

The nature of my invention consists in so constructing the mortise and tenon of a bedstead post and side rail that the tenon may be placed in the mortise and then moved laterally to fasten it, the contiguous sides of the mortise and tenon being provided with projections and depressions suited to each other, so that when forced together they prevent the tenon from being withdrawn from the mortise in shaping and arranging said projections and depressions in such a way that any weight thrown upon the side rail will cause them to draw the shoulder of the tenon against the post, and in. providing a key, to be placed in the mortise by the side of theI tenon, to hold said projections and depressions in contact.

-Figure 1 is an elevation ofl a portion-of a beadstead post and side rail, showing the'znortise and tenon and the projection on the side of the same in dotted lines.

Figure 2 is a top view of the end of a side rail, showing a projection on one side of the tenon and the key on the opposite side of the same. l

Figure 3 is an elevation of the end of a side rail, showing a projection on the tenon. Figure 4 is an elevation of a post,'showing a mortiseand depressions in the side of the mortise by dotted lines.

Figure '5 is a vertical section of a portion of a post, showing the inner surface of `a mortise, with a depression running diagonally from the upper to the' lower end of the same. i

a, post; b, side rail; c, tenon; e, key; z', projection on the tenon; t" depression in the side of the mortise; o, shoulder of the tenon. I v l The object of my invention is to provide, for a bedstead, a cheap, durable, and self-tightening fastening,

without the intervention of iron attachments. v

The mortise m in my improved bedstead fastening is about a halfl inch longer in its vertical measurement than the tenon, and wide enough to receive the tenon with the projections onv the side of it. In putting up the bedstead the tenon is placed in the mortise m, then moved laterally, the projections z' resting in the depressions z". The key e is then placed in the space within the mortise which has been left open by moving the tenon laterally. The key is then fastened by a screw or otherwise. The depressions may be upon the tenon and the projections upon the inner surface of the mortise, and work equally well. The projections are so arranged that the tenon must be raised as high up in the mortise as possible before they will enter the depressions, so that the tenon may fall half .an inch or so before it rests upon the lower end of the mortise; and in falling this4 half inch the tenon, by the diagonal arrangement of the projections and depressions, is drawn into the mortise, so as tobring the shoulder o against the post, thus causing it to be tightened by any weight placed upon the bed. v

There are many modifications of myinvention which readily suggest themselves. I shall, therefore, not confine myself, in making my claims, to any particular form or arrangement, either of theY projections and depressions or of thekey. But, having described myA improved bedstead fastening, I claim, and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent of .the United States- I The combination of the mortise (m,) the tenon (0,) projectionY (z',)-depression (z') and key (62,) when these devices are so employed as to form a self-tightening bedstead fastening,substantially as herein shown.

W.A H. ELLIOT.

Witnesses:

A. J. LIEBENAN, H. L. DEXTER. 

